Teleconference Support System

1. A teleconference support system used for establishing a teleconference among a plurality of conference rooms, comprising: a plurality of teleconference apparatuses, each of which is disposed in each of the conference rooms and provided with an image capture device configured to take visual information in each of the conference room, a sound capture device configured to take audio and sound information in each of the conference room, a display, and an audio output; and a connection server configured to selectively connect two or more of the teleconference apparatuses so that visual information, taken by the image capture device, and audio information, taken by the sound capture device, provided for a first teleconference apparatus in a first teleconference room, are respectively output to the display and the audio output provided for a second teleconference apparatus disposed in a second teleconference room, each of the teleconference apparatus including a person identification information acquisition unit implemented by first processing circuitry and configured to obtain person identification information identifying each individual present in each of the conference rooms, the connection server including: a conference venue information storage configured to store conference information including a teleconference participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms included in the teleconference and expected person identification information of expected participants assigned to each conference room for the teleconference to be held; a conference start judgment unit implemented by second processing circuitry and configured to determine whether the teleconference satisfies a conference start condition based on the participant condition and a comparison of the expected person identification information included in the conference information and the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit from each conference room, wherein the conference start judgment unit is further configured to determine that the conference start condition has been satisfied in response to the participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms being satisfied, and at a conference start time, to determine whether another conference room satisfies the participant condition in place of a conference room in the teleconference that does not satisfy conditions for participation in the teleconference; and a teleconference apparatus connection unit implemented by the second processing circuitry and configured to connect teleconference apparatuses used for the teleconference when the teleconference is determined to satisfy the conference start condition, wherein the participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms includes one of 1) a condition which is satisfied when each person in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to each person in the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit, 2) a condition which is satisfied when at least one person in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to persons in the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit, and 3) a condition which is satisfied when an expected number of, or a proportion of the expect number of, persons in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to persons in the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit, and wherein the participant condition is individually set for each of the plurality of conference rooms.

2. The teleconference system according to claim 1 , wherein the conference start judgment unit checks whether person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit from each conference room satisfies conditions for participation set for each conference room in advance for a teleconference, and the conference start judgment unit determines whether a conference start condition for teleconference is satisfied based on results of checking the conditions for participation for each conference room.

3. The teleconference system according to claim 2 , wherein the conference start judgment unit determines that the conference room satisfies the conditions for participation when all person identification information included in the conference information matches the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit from the conference room.

4. The teleconference system according to claim 3 , wherein the conference information includes priority level information set for each of person identification information, the priority level information indicating an importance level of each expected participant, and the conference start judgment unit determines whether the participant condition is satisfied when person identification information having higher priority level included in the conference information is matched to the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit for the conference room.

5. The teleconference system according to claim 2 , wherein the conference start judgment unit determines that the conference room satisfies the conditions for participation when at least one person's identification information included in the conference information matches any person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit from the conference room.

6. The teleconference system according to claim 2 , wherein the conference start judgment unit determines that the conference room satisfies the conditions for participation when a given expected proportion of person identification information included in the conference information matches the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit from the conference room.

7. The teleconference system according to claim 1 , wherein the person identification information acquisition unit obtains biometrics information of each individual present in each conference room as the person identification information.

8. The teleconference system according to claim 7 , wherein the person identification information acquisition unit obtains the person identification information from feature values of face information extracted from a face image of each individual present in each conference room, the face image being taken by the image capture device.

9. The teleconference system according to claim 7 , wherein the person identification information acquisition unit obtains the person identification information from feature values of voiceprint extracted from audio information of each individual present in each conference room, the audio information being taken by the sound capture device.

10. The teleconference system according to claim 1 , wherein the connection server further includes: a conference history information storage which stores conference history information including information of participants participated in past teleconferences, the conference history information being stored for each one of the past teleconference; and a degree of relatedness computing unit implemented by the second processing circuitry and configured to compute a degree of relatedness between the participants based on the conference history information, wherein the conference start judgment unit estimates that conference rooms are connectable for a teleconference based on person identification information of individuals entering conference rooms not scheduled for a teleconference and the degree of relatedness between participants computed by the degree of relatedness computing unit.

11. The teleconference system according to claim 1 , wherein the person identification information acquisition unit obtains the person identification information of each individual present in each conference room from an identification storing device provided for each individual.

12. The teleconference system according to claim 1 , wherein at least two of the plurality of conference rooms have different participant conditions.

13. The teleconference system according to claim 1 , wherein the other teleconference room is a conference room not previously reserved for teleconferencing.

14. A method of estimating utility of establishing a teleconference between individuals entering different conference rooms not previously reserved for teleconferencing, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, by a computer having processing circuitry, person identification information of the individuals entering the conference rooms not reserved for teleconference; determining, by the computer having the processing circuitry, a degree of relatedness between at least one individual entering a first conference room and at least another individual entering a second conference room, the degree of relatedness being based on previous teleconferences between the at least one individual entering the first conference room and the other individual entering the second conference room; determining, by the computer having the processing circuitry, whether the first conference room and the second conference room, not reserved for a teleconference, each satisfy a conference start condition corresponding to the determined degree of relatedness; and establishing, by the computer having the processing circuitry, a session between teleconference apparatuses respectively disposed in the first and second conference rooms in response to a determination that the first conference room and the second conference room satisfy the conference start condition.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the degree of relatedness is inversely proportional to a time span between a current time and a previous conference time between the at least one individual entering the first conference room and the other individual entering the second conference room.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the determining determines that a conference start condition is satisfied when the number of combinations of individuals having a higher degree of relatedness is greater than the number of combinations of individuals having a lower degree of relatedness.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising not initiating the teleconference between the first and second conference rooms until the conference start condition is satisfied.

18. A method for establishing a teleconference among a plurality of conference rooms, comprising: storing conference information including a teleconference participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms included in the teleconference and expected person identification information of expected participants assigned to each conference room for the teleconference to be held; determining, by a computer having processing circuitry, whether the teleconference satisfies a conference start condition based on each participant condition and a comparison of the expected person identification information included in the conference information and person identification information for each conference room, wherein the determining further comprises determining that the conference start condition has been satisfied in response to the participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms being satisfied, and determining at a conference start time, whether another conference room satisfies the participant condition in place of a conference room in the teleconference that does not satisfy conditions for participation in the teleconference; and connecting teleconference apparatuses used for the teleconference when the teleconference is determined to satisfy the conference start condition, wherein the participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms includes one of 1) a condition which is satisfied when each person in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to each person in the person identification information, 2) a condition which is satisfied when at least one person in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to persons in the person identification information, and 3) a condition which is satisfied when an expected number of, or a proportion of the expect number of, persons in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to persons in the person identification information, and wherein the participant condition is individually set for each of the plurality of conference rooms.